


The Hot Light

by Crazy4Orcas



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Community: be_compromised, F/M, Fluff, Krispy Kreme, Pranks and Practical Jokes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-26
Updated: 2017-03-26
Packaged: 2018-10-11 02:37:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10453089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crazy4Orcas/pseuds/Crazy4Orcas
Summary: Steve pointed down the street.  “The Hot Light is on,” he said again quickly, “and I needed you and Clint so we could each get a dozen.”Natasha looked in the direction Steve pointed and rolled her eyes.  “Krispy Kreme, Steve.  Really?”





	

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by a discussion ([link](http://be-compromised.livejournal.com/358496.html)) on the be_compromised LJ about Empire Magazine's Winter Soldier cover back from December 2013.
> 
> Extra special thanks to [enigma731](http://archiveofourown.org/users/enigma731/pseuds/enigma731) for the beta and cheerleading. Thanks to [shenshen77](http://archiveofourown.org/users/shenshen77/pseuds/shenshen77) for the read through.

“Sit-rep?” Natasha asked as she appeared as if out of thin air next to Steve. He’d finally gotten to the point where he didn’t jump when she did that, but it was still a close thing. She pulled him out of the flow of midtown foot traffic and into a small alcove.

“Well,” Steve’s cheeks flushed a little, he ducked his head and rubbed at the back of his neck. “It’s not really a situation.”

“Cap,” Natasha’s tone took on a sharp edge. “You called us in on an ‘AVENGERS ASSEMBLE’ text. Hawkeye’s taken position on the roof of the building across the street and Banner’s waiting two blocks out. Iron Man is hovering half a mile up, waiting for your plan and probably watching porn.”

Steve’s flush spread and he actually scuffed the toe of one booted foot. “I only texted you and Clint, I knew you guys were in the area. And I used lower case letters so you’d hurry, but not think it was an emergency.”

“Steve.” Now Natasha’s tone was dangerous as well as sharp.

“The Hot Light is on,” Steve blurted out.

“What?”

Steve pointed down the street. “The Hot Light is on,” he said again quickly, “and I needed you and Clint so we could each get a dozen.”

Natasha looked in the direction Steve pointed and rolled her eyes. “Krispy Kreme, Steve. Really?”

\----------

The Tower was quiet as Clint followed Natasha down to the team’s equipment room. It was late enough that Pepper had insisted Tony come to a stopping point on his latest project but early enough that Steve wasn’t up yet for his morning run.

“For one of SHIELD’s finest, you’re not really very stealthy.” Natasha’s voice was a quiet whisper.

“In my own defense, I don’t often feel the need to be stealthy in my own home. Besides, you’re extremely distracting.”

“How am I distracting?” She came to a sudden halt and turned to face him.

Clint let his eyes roam suggestively down and back up her body, his grin absolutely lecherous.

“Seriously? I’m in old sweats and one of your ratty t-shirts.”

He reached out to play with the hem of the t-shirt and tugged on it a little, trying to pull her closer. “Yeah, well, I know exactly what you’ve got under those old sweats and ratty t-shirt. And I’d really, really like to reacquaint myself with how it feels.”

Natasha quirked an eyebrow at him, “You’ve reacquainted yourself with how I feel already tonight, very thoroughly I might add.” The heat in his gaze was having an effect on her though and she could feel her resolve crumbling. “Fine, go ahead, get it out of your system, but be quiet about it.”

In a move almost too quick for her to follow, Clint had her pressed up against the wall in the dim light of the hallway.

“Baby, I’ll never get you out of my system,” he said just before he kissed her. The kiss was hot and wet, tongues sliding together and Natasha had to fight back a moan. His hands clenched on her hips and then circled around to grope her ass before hooking behind her thighs to lift her up. Natasha wrapped her legs around his waist and carded her hands into his hair. She broke away from his mouth and bit her lower lip as one of his hands slid up under her t-shirt and palmed her breast. He trailed open-mouthed kisses along her jaw and sucked her earlobe between his lips. Natasha couldn’t hold back her moan this time as Clint ground himself into her.

He pulled back and smirked at her, “Hush now, you said we had to be quiet.”

She smirked back and rolled her hips against him, enjoying the way the movement made him suck in a breath. Clint leaned in for another kiss but stopped when she put her hands against his chest. “Okay, you’re reacquainted.”

“You’re no fun,” Clint accused and she was amused to see how close to pouting he was. He dropped his hand from her breast, placed it back on her ass and kneaded the soft flesh with both hands.

“I am not having sex with you in this hallway,” she said firmly, but didn’t move out of his embrace. “You were all for this mission when we planned it out, are you chickening out now?”

“Hell no.” He looked insulted. “Operation Cold Turkey is a go. It’s just, like I said, you’re extremely distracting. Especially when you’re wearing my clothes, all I can think about is getting you out of them.”

“Well,” she purred and wriggled against him, “if we complete Phase One without incident, I’ll let you rip your clothes off me.” For added incentive, she rolled her hips against him again and grinned when his eyes rolled back in his head. She dropped her legs from around him and started down the hallway again, Clint a near silent presence behind her, only her honed senses allowing her to hear him at all.

\----------

Clint and Natasha exchanged grins as they watched Steve struggle with the utility belt to his uniform. His look of confusion was gratifying as he drew in a breath and finally got the belt buckled. He fidgeted as he sat down on the bench in the back of the transport vehicle, obviously uncomfortable.

“Something wrong Cap?” Clint asked. Natasha was almost proud of the curious expression Clint pulled off; he’d been paying attention to her lessons.

“No, just …” Steve hesitated, pulling at the belt again. “My belt seems tight.”

And with the kind of luck only the best laid plans seemed to generate, Tony immediately piped up with a snarky, “Maybe it’s all the Krispy Kreme. Your super-metabolism can’t keep up with The Hot Light.”

\----------

Natasha entered the gym and found Steve mid-workout. He was jumping rope and she noticed his discarded hand wraps so knew he’d also been working with the heavy bag. He’d gone for a run earlier in the morning and had spent time sparring with her after that.

“Are you training for something in particular?” she asked.

Steve sped through another dozen cross-armed jumps before stopping. He went over to his bag to grab a towel and looked at her sheepishly as he wiped the sweat from his face. “Not really,” he said, words muffled by the towel. “I mean ...” he trailed off as he dropped the towel. “It’s nothing. Did you need something?”

“Clint’s grilling ribs and we wondered if you’d like to join us.”

“Sure, that sounds great.” Steve gave her a quick smile. “What time and what can I bring?”

Natasha checked her watch. “He started them smoking a couple of hours ago, so how does six sound? And don’t bring anything, Clint’s got it covered.”

“I’ll be there.” Steve reached into his bag and pulled out new wraps for his hands. “I just want to get in more time here.”

“Don’t go too hard Steve, you’ll work yourself sick.”

\----------

The doorbell rang at six on the dot and Natasha opened the door to let Steve into the apartment. She smiled at him as he handed her a bouquet of wildflowers. “You didn’t need to bring anything, but thank you, they're beautiful.”

“I couldn’t just show up empty handed. I took a quick run before cleaning up to come over and saw these at that market by the park.” He looked around and out on the balcony. “Where’s Clint? I thought he’d be hovering over the ribs?”

“He had to run out to get more beer, said he didn’t trust me to get the right brand. But he made me swear a blood oath that I wouldn’t touch the grill while he was out.” She gave a fond roll of her eyes, then headed into the kitchen to put the flowers in water. “Do you want something to drink?”

Just as Steve went to answer, the door opened and Clint came in with his hands full. Steve reached out and grabbed the two boxes Clint was precariously holding, and Natasha saw his face fall. She risked a quick glance at Clint, just in time to see him wink at her. Steve was looking down at the green and white boxes with “Krispy Kreme” emblazoned on them with an expression that was part frustration, part dismay, and all longing.

“Thanks Steve,” Clint said and moved into the kitchen with the bags he was carrying. “I got lucky on my way back from this new microbrewery I wanted to try and The Hot Light was on, so I got us a couple dozen.”

He set the bags down, took the boxes back from Steve, set them on the counter and opened the top one. The heady scent of freshly baked donut filled the room. Natasha could practically see the drool forming at the corners of Steve’s mouth as he fixated on Clint reaching into the box and pulling out a plain glazed. His eyes tracked the donut from the box to Clint’s mouth as he took a huge bite, his eyes closing and a crumbly grin spreading across his face. Clint pushed the box Steve’s way and said, through a mouthful of pastry, “Have a couple, I know the plain glazed are your favorite. I had to get a half dozen double dark chocolate for Nat. And the eclairs are for dessert, but help yourself to the rest.”

Steve looked tempted and his hand twitched as if to reach out, but he took a breath and shook his head, “I really shouldn’t. I don’t want to spoil my appetite.”

Clint swallowed his mouthful and looked surprised, “Spoil your appetite? Is that even possible?” He pushed the open box even closer and reached in with his empty hand to pull out a second donut for himself, this one a maple iced. He could swear he heard Steve whimper.

“No, that’s okay. I’ll just wait for dessert.” Steve tore his eyes away from the donuts in Clint’s hands and looked at him. “I know you’ve been working on the ribs for hours and don’t want to take away from that.”

“Suit yourself,” Clint replied and took a bite of the maple iced before offering it to Natasha who took a bite for herself.

\----------

The ribs were amazing and Steve seemed to have gotten over his despondence at not diving into the donuts. He’d had thirds on the ribs, a second helping of Clint’s potato salad, and a couple ears of grilled corn. They’d had relaxed, pleasant conversation and then Natasha had gotten up to bring dessert to the table.

When she placed the plate with the eclair in front of Steve, his eyes were drawn to it immediately and he frowned slightly. “Is something wrong?” she asked as she sat down again. “I can get you a few others if you want or I might even be persuaded to let you have one of my double dark chocolates.”

He looked up quickly. “No, no that’s okay,” he replied. “I love the eclairs.”

Clint and Natasha exchanged a quick look as Steve’s attention was drawn back to the eclair, a conflicted expression on his face. Clint picked up his eclair and dug in. After a moment Steve’s expression cleared and he did the same, closing his eyes and chewing slowly. Clint looked over at Natasha to gauge her reaction to Steve and almost choked. She was staring directly at Clint, her lips pressed to the end of the eclair and lightly sucking the cream from inside. She took a bite out of the pastry, some cream lingering on her bottom lip and Clint swallowed hard when her tongue flicked out and cleaned it off. He tore his gaze from her and checked on Steve who was still enjoying his eclair, leaned back in his chair with his eyes closed.

Clint jumped a little when Natasha ran her foot up his calf. He volleyed his attention back to her in time to see her take another small bite, dip a finger into the cream and lick it off. He swallowed again.

“Clint?” Steve asked. “You okay?”

“Uh, yeah,” Clint replied hoarsely. “Fine, just a little distracted.” Steve looked curious enough to ask more questions so Clint cleared his throat and beat him to the punch, “How’s dessert? You’ve hardly touched it.”

It worked, Steve flushed a little and answered, “Oh it’s great. I was just savoring it.” He looked embarrassed as he admitted, “I haven’t been to Krispy Kreme since our last mission.”

“What? Why?” Clint asked and nudged Natasha’s foot under the table. “You were going, what, three or four times a week?”

Steve squirmed a little, hesitated, slumped his shoulders and finally answered, “My belt.”

Clint and Natasha both faked confusion.

\----------

“Are we go for Phase Two?” Clint asked as he stretched and turned off the TV so he could watch Natasha enter the room. She was carrying a utility belt practically identical to the one they’d replaced Steve’s with two weeks ago. Only this one was a littler larger than the original instead of smaller.

She nodded as she twirled the belt around her hand. “0200. Can you think of something to do until then?” Her eyes gleamed and the smile she gave him was positively sinful.

He stood and gracefully stalked over to her, took the belt and tossed it behind him as he backed her into the kitchen. He pressed her up against the island, one hand on either side of her. Natasha wrapped her arms around his shoulders and sighed when he mouthed at her neck just under her ear. Clint leaned into her further, bending her backwards a little and she heard something slide over the countertop.

Clint raised his head and grinned at her. He held up one of the remaining eclairs to her, “That thing at dinner kinda did it for me.” Natasha just smiled fondly at him, licked her lips and let him put the eclair to her mouth so she could take a bite.

\----------

The team had a planned training exercise two days later. While they were gearing up in their equipment room, Clint and Natasha each kept a surreptitious eye on Steve.

He had all his gear on with his cowl down around his neck and was staring at his belt, fidgeting with it in his hands. Tony and Thor’s conversation covered Steve’s silence. He clenched his jaw, wrapped the belt around his waist and a look of confusion crossed his face. He buckled the belt and it hung awkwardly on his hips. Steve twisted it around a bit, but it still sagged a little. And then he threw his head back and laughed.

\----------

“Where’s Steve?” Bruce asked at the post-training meeting. They usually gathered to go over the various aspects of the exercise to see where they could make improvements. Typically the meetings involved beer, food, and a lot of good natured teasing.

“He said he had a quick stop to make,” Natasha said, she had her suspicions but kept them to herself.

Clint fiddled with her hand where it rested on the table. She looked up at him and he mouthed “The Hot Light?” to her.

She grinned and nodded.

“Well, he’d better hurry or I’m starting without him,” Tony said as he pulled over containers of Drunken Noodles and Pad Thai, taking a deep breath of each before upending most of the Drunken Noodles onto his plate.

Just then the conference room door opened and Steve came in with a triumphant grin on his face. He was loaded down with six green and white boxes, the “Krispy Kreme” in bold red on the side. “The Hot Light is back!”

\----------

“Should we tell him?” Natasha asked later that night as they lay tangled together in bed.

“Not just yet,” Clint replied, a wicked grin on his face.

“I know that look, what are you thinking?”

“Next month, his cowl gets bigger.”


End file.
